Moist soil managment

[Bercy]

There are several topics that touch on moist soil management for ducks, but I was hoping for a better, concentrated discussion here.

What are your thoughts, opinion, successes, failures with moist soil management? Is this a fairly recent line of thinking? Has anyone gone from crops to moist soil management or vice versa? Do you still supplement/plant millet, beans and/or corn - or over-seed with barnyard seed or other seeds? What are your draw down dates? Do you shallow disk some or all of the area - if so when? Would you ever spray and/or fertilize? Any pictures?

I have heard to remove one board at a time starting April 1 for staggered growth, and then in September/October shallow disk 1/2 or 1/3 of the to be flooded area (rotate disked areas annually).

Thanks for any thoughts.

[okieguide]

we have a large area we manage through moist soil magement (around 1000 acres). It is my opinion it is the safest (you will alwys have some food) most economical way to create great habitat. Every wetland and every unit on that wetland will react different so take good records. We use ground temp as a barometer for when to draw down and that is 60 degrees. Disking in the early spring and fall are vital and will control unwanted vegetation. We do plant about 150acres of grains mostly millets in those areas that are not producing well. I would say a drawdown of 4-6" per week is good but you need to determine whats best as you gather data. Hope this helps

[SWAG]

Okie is right, keep good records and watch what areas produce without any "planting" help at all. I have a a couple of brakes that are great at producing large amounts of food. Wish I could control the water more accurately to maximize the food every season, but for the most part they start their own trickle type drawdown each season around April 1. Soil temps are very important. Germination of wanted/unwanted plants are scheduled around these soil temp times. Having a biologist with some good moist soil experience to come to your place and work out a schedule of management is the best thing to do. Will get you past some often made mistakes early and on to producing some food. I am not a total moist soil management type of landowner, I like to plant some stuff as well, but I do see moist soil production occurring naturaly every season and like the results on alot of it I do see. Rainfall data, water depth, drawdown timing and speed, soil types, plant ID, soil temps, management practices (disking, spraying, reflooding, etc) are all really useful records to keep or at least try and keep mental notes of.

[jsthntn]

Getting a moist soil area established can be very tricky in some places and easier in others. It all depends on what your starting seed bed is like. Sometimes you get lucky and your area naturally grows grasses (sprangletop, millet, and panicum) so controlling your weed species will be the problem. This can be accomplished by spraying chemicals to control broadleaf plants when you notice them being a problem (about 30% of your total plant species). However, if your area naturally grows mostly unwanted broadleaf plants such as ( coffe weed, cockleburr, water primrose, and smartweed) you will have to establish your seed bed first. The best way that I have found to do this is to leave as much water as pollible on your area until late August. This will keep most unwanted broadleaf plants from growing. Then draw the water down as quickly as possible, which will expose the bare muddy ground. Once all the water is gone, and before the ground dries out, seed the area with your desired grass seed. This should allow enough moisture to establish most grasses, even jap millet. You can then put your boards back in and catch water (or pump) as you would normally do before duck season. It may take several years of doing this before you get a desirable seed bed. You just have to watch in the spring of the year to see if you are getting grass or weeds growing. Once your seed bed is established then all you do is control your weeds by spraying or light disking.